Notes / Commercial Description:
Madness & Civilization is a panorama of our barrel aging program—oak-aged beers that emerge from their individual silences to find structure and voice as a unified composition. This is the result of an unpredictable state of permanent happenstance—a dialogue with our evolving approach to blending that challenges convention and circumstance. Each release will include multiple threads and is likely to approximate the style of an imperial stout.

Reviews by nootch23:

More User Reviews:

Thanks to TheSevenDuffs for this brew.
Deeply dark and earthy in appearance. The smell is somewhat shy unless encouraged out with a strong swirl. Noticeable hot alcohol esters, with wet barrel, brandy booziness, sweet dark malts and smoothing of vanilla over the top of it all. The flavour leans to the sweet verse hoppy bitters, with burnt toffee, dark honey, vanilla and a full bourbon warmth. The barrel aging assertively adds depth to this brew.

That's about my only complaint; other 1-off amazing beers by this same genius brewery are MORE amazing than this.

...well, and it's not deep enough relative to the best BBA stouts. Really great, but could benefit from some more complexity.

Mouthfeel: Smooth. A touch overcarbonated (more than a touch). Full side of medium bodied and creamy. Beautiful dry finish. Most elements are maximally good, with one flaw (bit overcarbonated).

Overall: I'd drink this all day every day, but it's not *the best*. If that's a flaw, there you go.

To put it in perspective, the mouthfeel and overall balance are better than Bourbon County Stout, and the aroma is equal or better, but flavorwise, BCBS (garish and unbalanced as it may be) delivers a lot more.

Picked this bottle up from a great BA trader @lhteacher. Shared at Proof for our little HH. Pours a very thick and viscous black. Good amount of deep tan head that faded into a medium collar. Aroma is of licorice, dark roasted malt, some charred oak, some bourbon. Taste is all of the aroma plus some coffee and vanilla. Maple is also present throughout. Super rich body, nice low carbonation.

Very close to black in color with a somewhat persistant, slightly creamy, small-bubbled dark brown head. Gorgeous lacing left down the glass. A simply gorgeous stout. Hill Farmstead always makes beautiful beer.

Layered, complex, and delightful aroma. Coffee, chocolates, marshmallow, and integrated, fine bourbon integrate into something truly special. Some dark fruit emerges as the beer warms some along with a toasted, nearly burnt, fresh out of the oven pie crust character. Exceptional.

The flavor is similar to the aroma, though the bourbon takes a touch more of a firm presence upfront--but not in a stinging, harsh way. The bourbon is flavorful, integrated, and complementary to the chocolate, vanilla, and pie crust flavors. Incredibly drinkable.

Medium to nearing full in body with moderate carbonation. Not an overly heavy or viscous stout.

Fantastic. So much better than Damon, and I had to beg, borrow, and steal to taste that one. This one just showed up unexpectedly. Thanks again, Adam!

T - Caramel, chocolate, good amount of vanilla sweetness. Light booze and alcohol comes through as well as oak to give it a slight heat. Well balanced and delicious stout.

M - Medium smooth body with light astringency from the oak and the bourbon

O - Really a great stout that is right up my alley with the great balance between the sweet chocolate, vanilla and caramel flavors balanced with the slight heat from the booze and astringency from the oak. Another great HF beer.

Pours a .5 finger dark mocha head with moderate to low retention. Beer is thick and pitch black. Lacing is patchy with good stick. Decent.

Aromas of wine grapes, bourbon, dark chocolate, roast, and cocoa. Some molasses and chocolate sweetness wafts through the layers of booze. Solid though I could go for a bit more oomph here.

Opens sweet chocolate and molasses. An extremely mellow wine-y tartness floats in the background covered by layers of booze, fudge and chocolate. Very sweet throughout. Some woodiness at the back end adds some depth. Finishes chocolate with some slight roast coarseness. Aftertaste of booze and molasses. Very complex but a touch sweet for my taste.

Full bodied with moderate carbonation. Smooth and silky in the mouth and goes down warm and slick. Finishes messy with a sticky sweet, lingering aftertaste. Nice.

An extremely well made beer, this is certainly one of the most complex imperial stouts I've had in a while. The flavors work well together too but there's just a touch too much sweetness for my liking at times. Still, definitely worth trying.